It doesn’t take much in the way of equipment to make a cup of tea. At its most basic this function can be carried out using some kind of device to heat the water and, if you’re okay with using teabags, a mug or cup to steep them in.
At the other end of the spectrum are an increasing number of devices that have attempted, in varying degrees and with various amounts of success, to automate the process of tea preparation. This is nothing new, in case you were wondering. As we noted in this article on a curious type of device known as the Teawaker, as early as 1892 an inventor received a patent for something he called an Automatic Tea Making Apparatus. For information on an assortment of more contemporary automatic teamakers refer to this article.
One of the more recent trends with coffee makers, and to some extent with teamakers, is toward devices that use single-serve pods to make the process even more convenient. Wired Magazine recently took one of these – the Special T – for a test drive. Read all about it here.
If you doubt the importance of good water for your tea then try making a cup without it. If the water you’re using is not all that it should be you might find the water fan, by Bellima, to be of some use. As they put it in a recent press release, it enables “tea drinkers to enjoy full-flavoured tea at low-cost without having to use accessory equipment (such as table-top and pot filters).”
Speaking of gadgets and whatnot, there seem to be an increasing number of gadgets on the market nowadays that hope to help us solve that nagging problem of what to do with our pesky tea bag strings. Here’s one of the latest, the Tie Tea Cup. It will help you to resolve this issue in exchange for $25 of your hard-earned dollars.
Don’t miss William’s blog, Tea Guy Speaks!
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